Bedard Strikes Out 15...Mets Win in 17 Innings
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by user Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
Bedard Strikes Out 15
Erik Bedard (7-4) struck out 15 Texas Rangers in a 3-0 complete game shutout while allowing only two hits. It was his first game with ten or more strikeouts since the 20th of May. Bedard has pitched much better than his record shows. He has pitched games like the following in which he lost or didn't receive the decision: 2 ER in 6 innings...0 ER in 7 innings...1 ER in 7 innings...2 ER in 7 innings...2 ER in 7 innings showing he could have easily had 4 or 5 more wins if he had any kind of offense backing him up but instead his Orioles are 10th in AL in runs scored with only the A's and Chicago White Sox scoring less runs. Bedard is an amazing 24 strikeouts ahead of his nearest competitor Johan Santana in the AL this season.
Around the Bases
Yankees and Red Sox both battled for 13 innings before losing to the Angels and Tigers respectively. Miguel Cairo the Yankee first baseman made three of the five Yankees errors in the loss. Cairo made more errors in one game than Todd Helton has made in 83 games making only two errors. Why wasn't Andy Phillips playing first base since he hits .348 against righthanders? The pitching duel between John Lackey and Roger Clemens was one of the best of the season with each pitchers pitching eight innings and allowing one run and five hits but Lackey struck out eleven while Clemens struck out two. In his last two starts Clemens has pitched 16 innings allowing 2 runs and 7 hits showing he is still the pitcher that dominated hitters for so many years. He lowered his ERA from 4.26 to 3.63.
Red Sox also lost in 13 innings to the Tigers as the Tigers elected not to pitch to David Ortiz three times after he hit his 14th homer in the first inning. It looked like a brilliant move to still have Paplebon available to pitch in the 14th inning but it wasn't his day hitting Gary Sheffield with a pitch and allowing him to steal second then giving up a walkoff single to Pudge Rodriguez that won the game for the Tigers. Despite the loss the Red Sox lost no ground to either the Blue Jays or Yankees who also lost and remain 11 games back in second place. Ortiz is 15 home runs behind league leader Alex Rodriguez and after 86 games has only 14 home runs after hitting 54 last season. Manny Ramirez has only 11 homers after hitting 35 last season.
Carlos Beltran ended a marathon 17 inning game with Astros with a single in top of 17th inning and David Wright singled in another run for insurance as the Mets won 5-3. Billy Wagner closed out the game being saved for a save situation notching his 17th save of the season. Paul Lo Duca had a hitter's worst nightmare an 0 for 8 night while Carlos Beltran was 1 for 7 but his one hit won the game. On the Astros side Mark Loretta was 0 for 7 and Hunter Pence was 1 for 8 but still hitting .341 after the game. Tom Glavine failed for the second time to win his 298th game and has only won twice since the 19th of May losing five times and receiving two no decisions.
Highlights of other games yesterday:
Fausto Carmona (10-4) pitched the Indians to 9-4 win over the Blue Jays....The Twins who scored 32 times on Friday should have saved some of those runs in their 3-1 loss to Mark Buehrle 6-4 and the White Sox....Looks like Felix Hernandez (5-4) is back to where he was after his first two games of the season when he held A's and Red Sox scoreless in his first 17 innngs of the season. Yesterday he pitched a two hit shutout in the 4-0 win by Mariners over the A's. Adrian Beltre who hit .190 in June is hitting .458 in July and has three homers and nine runs batted in during his last four games hit his 13th homer of the season.
Carlos Pena hit his 20th homer of the season and has 52 runs batted in after only 226 at bats. His career high is 27 homers in 2004 with the Tigers in 481 at bats....Jimmy Rollins has three homers in his last 31 at bats this month after having only four homers in June in 122 at bats....Brewers again jumped off to an early lead and then lost the game as Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder hit first inning homers to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead but Jeff Suppan gave up four runs in the fifth inning as the Nationals eventually won the game 5-4. Suppan has been a major disappointment after starting the season 4-2 in April with a 2.55. Since then he is 4-6 and his ERA has almost doubled to 5.00. He has given up four or more runs nine times in his last twelve starts. In his last five starts he has allowed 24 runs and 37 hits in his last 25 innings. Fielder also hit his 29th homer of the season in the contest tying him with Alex Rodriguez for the major league lead.
Tim Lincecum 4-2 pitched his third straight quality start and won his second game in a row. Now that the ballyhoo over Lincecum has settled down he seems to be pitching more like the Giants expected him to pitch. Cubs with almost half a season to go are in position to contend for the NL Central title as they move to 4 1/2 games back of the Brewers who lost to the Nationals who are tied with Reds for worst record in NL with only 35 wins each. Brewers have to improve on their 19-25 road record. After today the Brewers don't play again till Friday when they entertain the streaking Rockies at Miller Park with Ben Sheets getting the start.
